No Thing Could be Better
by Nobody 08
Summary: After the Door Lord fiasco, Marceline returns to the scene of the crime. What for, though?


-blows dust off Fanfic account-

Wow. It's been a while. Not even all the dust came off. XD Anyway... What was supposed to be here? Aah, that's right.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ADVENTURE TIME OR THE CHARACTERS RELATED THEREOF. **

Okay. On to the story.

* * *

After chasing Finn around for a while and later confirming that no one was anywhere near her, Marceline the Vampire Queen returned to the now open Door of the Door Lord. The Door Lord's previous occupation -before having been caught, beaten, and tied up by Marceline, Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum, Jake the Dog, and Finn the Human- was randomly stealing a person's most valuable treasure in some twised attempt at showing them that friendship was the true treasure all along. Marceline sneers at the thought.

"Now... where is it..." Marceline begins to search for what was taken from her. She silently thanks Finn for jumping to the conclusion that nothing was stolen from her and that she just wanted to hang out, so she could play along and get it later, alone, as to avoid any unneccesary embarrassment. The funny thing is, he was half right. She looks through the bag that Jake was handing everyone their things from, but her thing is not there. She looks up and around at all the drawers lining the cave walls.

"Well, better get started." she says to herself. As she begins searching the drawers, her mind wanders back to the thing the Door Lord had taken from Princess Bubblegum. Marceline blushes a little as she remembers the sight of Bonnibel putting the shirt on right then and there.

"She really kept it... I'm going to have to see if she wasn't lying one of these days." Marceline comments to herself, shakng her head and going back to her search. Princess Bubblegum's treasure surprised Marceline when it was revealed; a shirt from a rock concert that Marceline herself had given her. When Marceline claimed that Bonnibel never wore the shirt, she was quickly corrected.

"...As pajamas..." Marceline pauses as the words escape her lips. That was what Bonnibel had said, right? She didn't just make it up, it really happened. Which calls the song back to her memory.

"Ooooo, what was I thinking when I kept going with that thing?" Marceline shakes her head again, more violently this time, and moves to go back to her search.

"Mm hmm hmm hmmmm hmmmmm." The injured Door Lord says from behind her. He never speaks, and that only frustrates Marceline, but this time she understands him, so she turns to answer.

"Yeah, I know it was the truth! It's just... not one that anyone else can know. Especially her. I even hid it from myself for so long..."

"Hmm?" The Door Lord asks.

"Because... I... even in my one thousand years, I've never felt like this before. Vampires don't DO attechments. Well, not usually, anyway. I've seen some cases where they did, but... I'm the Vampire QUEEN. That and..." Marceline hangs her head, "I'm not what she needs. She desn't need a Vampire, she needs to find some sweet thing and get with them. Someone like... someone else from the Candy Kingdom, or maybe even Finn. She needs... someone better than me."  
The Door Lord is silent, but when she looks up at him, his eyes express a saddened consern for her.

"STOP IT! I DON'T WANT YOUR PITY!" Marceline snaps at him and spins around back to her search.

"Mmm..." The Door Lord mumbles to her. She turns her head all the way around back to him without moving her body, and her face morphs with the features of a monster,

"WHAT THE GLOB DO YOU WANT NOW?" She bellows in a demonic voice. The Door Lord says nothing, but looks up to a higher drawer on the ceiling.

"Mmmm hmmmm." He humms. Marceline's visage instantaneously returns to it's former self and takes on an expression of dire need as she zips straight up to the drawer in question. She opens it, and a smile overtakes her as she gently pulls what she was looking for out of its prison.

"There you are! Com'ere you." She holds up a stuffed teddy bear, which incidentally looks more like a dirty, worn, rag doll which resembles more of a sock monkey than anything else. She hugs it close, "I thought I'd lost you again. And don't worry, even though Princess Bubblegum brought you back," she holds it so she can see it's face and lightly taps its... "nose", "Ash is still a psycho and will never be seen near me or you ever again. And you're still in good... well, the condition I remember you being in last, anyway." she turns to the Door Lord, "Consder yourself lucky." she hisses, and floats out the door.

She can't help but recall the day her precious bear, Hambo, was returned to her by the person she came to care for most.

She was summoned by Princess Bubblegum, though she had no idea why. It wasn't to her castle or anything though, it was just to a little clearing in the woods. They both were sitting on a log in the moonlight.

"So... what's this all about?" Marceline asks.

"Well, I suppose I should just get to the point." Princess Bubblegum answers with a sigh, and pulls Hambo out from behind her. Marceline's jaw falls slightly, and her eyes widen.

"Wh- where did you get that?" she inquires.

"A witch had it. I happen to go to that same witch for certain supplies for my own experiments, and saw this in her back room. I'm not sure why it was there, but I rememebered that you said it meant a lot to you, and that you were dating that jerk wizard, Ash, until a few weeks ago. I believe I would be correct in guessing that this is why you broke up with him?" Princess Bubblegum explained. Marceline nodded, her eyes on the bear the whole time.

"I thought for sure I'd lost it..." she says softly. Princess Bubblegum smiles lightly.

"You almost did. She was going to make potions with it for sure. She was almost unwilling to part with it, but... let's just say being royalty has its perks." She holds Hambo out to Marceline, and the latter slowly brings her hands up to accept it. Bonnibel places the bear in Marceline's waiting hands and lets it go. Marceline stares incredulously at Hambo, safely back in her hands, and then shifts said stare to Princess Bubblegum, who had once again shown and unexpected kindness in this gesture.

"BonBon, I..." Marceline feels her chest kind of... stretch. Like it's reaching for something. She realizes that this is where her heart would skip a beat, if it were beating in the first place. "I..." she wants to say it, the thing she's let herself see since she broke up with Ash.

'I think I really like you...'

"I'll never forget this." she says instead.

'A lot...'

Princess Bubblegum smiles warmly at her friend.

"You're welcome." she says, her voice just as warm as her smile. Marceline simply looks at Bonnibel; this perfect creature that can never be hers. She suddenly breaks out and almost tackles Bonnibel with a powerful embrace.

'I'm sorry... But I'm no good to you. So just this once... just for tonight, let judgement fall somewhere else.'

"Wah!" Princess Bubblegum cries softly as she regains her balance on the log. "I had no idea it meant that much to you!" she says happily, returning her friend's hold.

'Yeah, it means a lot to me...' Marceline doesn't dare speak the words forming in her mind, 'but you might mean more...'

"Uh... Hey Marcey? I'm happy that you're happy and all, but... my dress...?" Princess Bubblegum's slighly entertained words make Marceline look down at where her head had been resting.

"Blood...?" Marceline asks herself. Shock overtakes her features as she quickly wipes at her cheek with her arm. More blood.

'When did I start crying? GLOB, this is BAD!'

"I... I'm sorry Princess, I didn't mean to, I just..." Marceline immideately floats up off of the log, "I'm really sorry! I... if you can't get that out, I'll replace the dress, I promise! I... I have to go, I'll see you later!" at this statement, she flies away, fast.

"MARCELINE, WAIT!" she hears Princess Bubblegum call out behind her, but the tears of blood have already started again.

'I can't... I can't leave myself open to this. Open LIKE this.'

Bonnibel stands alone in the clearing, her dress partially bloodstained, and her eyes locked despondently on where she last saw the speck of the Vampire Queen in the night sky. Her features soften as the corners of her lips curve upwards slightly. She knows Marceline is out of earshot. She looks back down at the vampire Queen's tear stains on her dress.

"I'll have to hide this from the servants..." she comments to herself, squatting to hold some of the stained portion of the dress in her hand, "They'll want to wash it for sure."

Marceline shakes her head as she finds herself drifting towards that Candy Kingdom.

"NO! No... no, WAY." She turns around and starts floating in the direction of her cave instead. "I can't. Not now... probably not ever." She drifts some distance before noticing a familiar blue speck on the ground under her, looking up at the moon from a lonely log.

"Finn...?" She asks herself before quietly gliding to a position behind his back, her hair barely tracing a circle in the grass below her as she hovered upside-down.

Finn heaves a deep sigh, not having noticed her.

"What's with the long face, Finn? That's not like you at all. And you never go ANYWHERE without Jake. What's up?" She asks.

He jumps, letting out a fierce, "WHO'S THERE?" as he turns to face her, ready to take action. "Oh. Marceline. And Hambo." He registers her as a friend of his, and calms down, slumping back onto the log with another slight sigh. "I just suck with girls."

"Finn, I think you should kno-" Marceline starts to speak gently, turning upside-up, when Finn interrupts,

"No, Marceline. I'm sorry. I'm not taking your advice again. Last time I did that, I got banned from the Candy Kingdom." Finn says, his brow furrowed.

"Finn, listen. I savatoged you last time." Maceline tells him. Finn's brow shoots up in surprise.

"Sava-WHAAAT? I don't get what you're saying, but I know it's something bad! I trusted you, Marceline!" Finn shouts, getting up from the log.

"I know, Finn. And... I'm sorry. But you have to admit... you should have known that putting wolves in her room was a bad idea from the start." Marceline points out, smirking a little.

"Haha. Yeah, I guess I should have." Finn agrees, letting a little smile break out, "And besides, I think I know why you did it, too."

Marceline blushes lightly as she replies, "Y-you do?"

"Yeah. I figured it out when you sang that song to her in front of the Door Lord's Door," he says, smiling wider, "You LIKE like her, don't you?"

"N-NO. I don't. What gave you that idea?" Marceline tries to deny it.

"Why do I want to~" Finn sings out of tune, grinning.

"SHUT UP!" Marceline shouts.

"Why do I waaaaant to~" Finn continues. Marceline makes grabs at him to make him stop, but he dodges out of the way with his adventurer finess, "... Want to what, Marceline?"

Marceline stops and looks at the ground, darkened in the moonlight. "Want to make up with her."

"... That's it?" Finn asks. He laughs, and continues as Marceline glares at him, "What about drinking the red from her pretty pink face? You've never wanted to drink anything of mine."

"I-I... I was improvising! That wasn't really aimed at her!" Marceline insists.

"Yeah, right. Just admit it Marceline, it's okay. I have a new crush now." Finn says.

"What?" Marceline stares at him blankly.

"Yeah! The Flame Princess."

"Whoa, whoa, what? You mean the evil one?"

Finn flips out. "Man, Jake said that too! SHE'S NOT EVIL! She's passionate! And from what I saw, she just didn't know better."

"Oh really?" Marceline asks, her eyebrow raised in entertainment.

"YEAH, REALLY." Finn puts his foot down, also literally, "She looked... curious. But whenever she touched anything, it burned... even me. She thinks I'm a water elemental because she saw me crying."

"So what? She thinks you cry all the time?" Marceline wonders aloud as her grin grows wider.

"Actually, yeah." Finn says, blushing lightly out of embarrassment.

Marceline begins with a light snigger, which progressively grows into full blown laughter.

"HEY! IT'S NOT FUNNY! I think she really likes me too! She just thinks we'll always hurt each other!" Finn shouts over her laughter.

"O-okay. Okay... heehee... I-I'm done, I'm done." she says, and looks into his eyes, smiling still.

There is a minute of silence.

"Really?" Finn asks skeptically.

More silence.

"... No!" Marceline exclaims and continues laughing a little longer as Finn stands, fuming.

"Whatever. I'm out of here." Finn says, and begins walking away. He only takes about a step before Marceline stops him.

"No, wait. I'm really done now, I promise." she tells him, "Look, Finn, I think we can help each other out."

"Really?" Finn stops and turns back around to face Marceline.

"Yeah. I can help you by being honest this time, and you can help me by giving me info." Marceline says.

"I don't know..." Finn says.

"Trust me, Finn, this can work. And if you can't trust me, think of it this way. I have no interest in the Flame Princess, but if I give you false methods this time, what's to stop you from giving me false information about Princess Bubblegum? I don't know her as well as I used to. I want to know some of the things she's into and some of the things she's not. And... if she'd even go for someone like me. Just... think it over. It's getting late, it would have to wait until tomorrow anyway." Marceline says, and begins to float away. She gets a short distance before she hears Finn call out to her.

"MARCELINE!" he cries. She turns her head in mid air, pausing there to listen. "I think she misses you! She kept the shirt, right? If we do this right... I think she'd go for you!" he smiles at her when he finishes, waving goodbye. Marceline smiles gently and waves back, turning back to leave.

Finn's words don't leave her head for the rest of the night.

"I told you Jake, I'm just going out for a bit! I need to take care of something today. ALONE." Finn says the next morning.

"Ooookay, man. If you say so. It just seems like you're going on an adventure without me. I don't wanna miss out is all." Jake says.

"Don't worry, it's not going to be that exciting, I promise. Hey, if you want, you can let Lady Rainicorn know that you have some free time right now. Or keep Beemo company. Make today an adventure..." he wraps an arm around Jake's shoulders, smiling, "for YOU."

"Hey... you're right, Finn. I spend so much time with you, I forget that I have other friends sometimes too. Yeah, I'll do that. C'mon, Beemo. I don't think you've even met Lady Rainicorn before." Jake says, picking up Beemo.

":D" Beemo's face flashes.

"Okay. See you later Jake." Finn says, and walks out the door. "Now to find Marceline, I guess." Not long after, he sees a humanoid shape flying in his direction, wearing a giant sun hat. "I'd know that sun hat anywhere." Finn says to himself, waiting for the figure to approach.

"Hey Finn." Marceline greets Finn when she finally reaches him.

"Hey Marceline." Finn replies.

"So. Ready to get started?" she asks.

"I guess so." Finn answers.

"Good." Marceline says, smiling. "Here, take this."

Finn accepts a small blood red pendant from Marceline. It's teardrop shapped, and hangs from a line of black leather.

"What is it?" Finn asks.

"Put it on. It's an ancient relic. It contains a Fire Shield spell."

"Fire Shield?"

"Yeah. It'll make it so that you don't get burned by fire anymore. The only way we're going to get Flame Princess to notice you again is by making it so she doesn't hurt you. And then you can convince her that you're not a water elemental, so you won't hurt her." Marceline explains, "Just... don't let her near your treehouse."

"Marceline... THAT'S PERFECT!" Finn throws on the pendant, a glowing blue aura radiates from the pendant, completely covers him, and fades away slowly. "LET'S GO! WHERE'S THE FIRE KINGDOM?"

"Well, you're all great spirits all of a sudden." Marceline comments, picking Finn up by the armpits.

"HECK YEA, MAN! You just solved all my problems with the Flame Princess with a necklace! I can totally take it from here!"

"Alright, lover boy. But I'm gonna come in with you, just in case."

"Okay. I don't see why not. But wait... if I have the Fire Shield spell... won't you get hot there?"

"Finn, I'm a Vampire. Extreme tempreatures don't bother me."

"Oh, okay. Then let's do this thing!" Finn points forward and Marceline continues to fly.

"Hey, Lady. I'm glad you could make it out today. This is Beemo. He doesn't get out much, so be a little gentle. Beemo, this is Lady Rainicorn." Jake introduces the two properly.

"나는 친구 한 명을 만날 수있다 기뻐요, 연인." Lady Rainicorn points out happily.

"And I'm pretty glad you got the chance to." Jake responds.

"나도 당신을 만날 수있는 행복 해요. 나는 좋은 친구를 바랍니다. ^_^" Beemo adds.

"Beemo! You know Korean?" Jake asks, shocked.

Beemo only grins and turns to show his label.

"Made in Korea. How convenient." Jake comments.

The three pause, smile at each other, and all start trying to talk at once.

"Now, I know we're all excited, but let's take this conversation one person at a time." Jake says.

"Here we are. The Fire Kingdom." Marceline says, putting Finn down. She also removes her hat and long yellow gloves that she was wearing.

"Marceline! What...?"

"Simmer down, hot stuff. There's so much ash in the air here, the sunlight doesn't get through." Marceline tells Finn.

"Oh. I get it." Finn says, looks at Marceline for a brief moment, and suddenly turns and yells, "Alright, now where's Flame Princess?"

"Hold on a sec Finn. Maybe we can-"

"NO! I CAN'T WAIT! MY FEELINGS... CAN'T... WAAAAAIT!" Finn screams and runs off in a random direction.

"..." Marceline's eyelids fall evenly across her eyes. "Only thirteen and he already won't ask for directions." she shrugs, "Oh well." She flies up high. "Finn can't get far on foot. I just need to see it... THERE!" she swoops down quickly to Finn, "FINN! I know where we're going! Let me take you!"

"OKAY! SUPER AWESOME PICKUP FORMATION, GO!" Finn shouts without stopping.

"Finn, we don't have one." Marceline says.

"That's okay, just make it up." Finn keeps running. "OOH THERE! We'll use that random cliff!"

"What." Marceline mutters. She knows there's no stopping Finn once he's set, so she lets him go.

"YEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!" Finn shouts as he runs full speed and jumps off the cliff. Marceline, knowing that Finn has a need to keep his adrenaline levels up for some reason, lets him fall for a little while.

"Okay, I think that's enough." Marceline says to herself and takes off after Finn down the cliff's edge. She catches him gently, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and the back of his kneecaps. She pauses in midair. "You okay, Finn?"

"Okay? I'M ALGEBRAIC!" Finn exclaims.

"Yeah, okay. Let's go."

Finn and his impatient little boy self almost gets restless in the short time it takes to reach the entrance to the Flame Castle.

"Okay Finn. I'm gonna follow from here on in bat form, okay? It would look bad on you if they saw you walk in with another girl. Get it?" Marceline tells Finn.

"Oh... oh, yeah! That's toats, Marceline." Finn says before heading in.

"... I hope he knows what he's doing." Marceline breathes just before transforming and following Finn. She flies up to the cieling, clings there, and watches.

Finn looks around the room and sees the Flame Princess.

"FLAME PRINCESS!" he calls out. Everyone in the room turns to look at him. ("He called to the Flame Princess!" the audience clamors)

"... Finn?" She asks, "You... came all the way here for me? But-"

"PRINCE FINN?" The Flame King butts in, "As in the one who previously failed in courting my daughter is back for more?" ("Yeah, he did already fail." the audience clamors.)

"Prince...? I'm not a prince." Finn says. ("Not a prince?" the audience clamors.)

"You must be a prince to pair with my daughter. Are you telling me that your messanger lied to me?" He bellows.

'He must be talking about Jake!' Finn realizes.

"No! No! It's just that... uhh... I'm not a prince... anymore. See, I gave it up to be an adventurer. I wasn't a fit ruler, there were too many rules and stuff."

"Oh? A rule breaker, huh? Very well. I'll give you another chance, but only because I will take pleasure in seeing you fail again." ("Ooo, a rule breaker. He might stand a chance." the audience clamors.)

"THANKS MAN!" Finn shouts, elated.

"Finn, if you're a water elemental, you should be dead already! How are you not even in pain?" Flame Princess steps forward to present her question. ("A water elemental?" the audience clamors)

"But I'm not! I tried telling you, I'm a human! I don't cry all the time... and now I'm protected from being hurt by you with this Fire Shield!" he holds up the amulet for a moment, ("He doesn't cry all the time?" the audience clamors) "We won't hurt each other any more! Of course... I might have to find a less burnable place to live, but..." He looks up into the eyes of the Flame Princess, "So please... give me another chance. I know I was confusing before, but look now! I've got it all figured out!"

The Flame Princess stares at Finn in silence, her jaw partially fallen and a light pink hue glowing on her bright orange cheeks.

"Y-you mean it?" she asks him softly.

"Yeah. I mean it." Finn answers.

Flame Princess runs to him, but stops just short of touching him. He watches her, catches her eyes with his and sees her apprehension. He smiles, takes her hands, and holds them up so she can see. "Look." he says, "It doesn't hurt." Flame Princess stares for a few seconds, and then slowly, hesitantly, moves to hug him. He returns her hold, and Flame Princess is surprised briefly, then realizes that it really is okay, and relaxes in Finn's arms.

"Way to go, Finn." Marceline whispers, "If you were ever good at anything, it was always telling others exactly how you feel." She suddenly has an epiphany. She flies down to Finn and whispers in his ear, "Have fun, Finn. I know what I'm going to do for Princess Bubblegum. Thanks."

"She likes spagetti," Finn responds, quietly, "and she doesn't like it when you lie to her."

"I'll remember that. Thanks again Finn." Marceline says, and flies away.

"No way, Finn. How did you know that?" Flame Princess says, smiling at him, "Are you psychic?"

"No, no, I actually..." Finn pauses and changes his statement, "It was a lucky guess. I'm just a human. A regular human."

"A hyooman?" Flame Princess asks. Finn laughs lightly, knowing what she means.

"No, a human. H-U-M-A-N." Finn says.

"Ooh. Okay. So you're an adventurer, right...?" ("Yeah, he said he was one..." the audience clamors.)

Marceline flies out of the Chamber and transforms back into her humanoid form.

"First, I need to get my hat back." she reminds herself.

"WHOO! THAT WAS CRAZY!" Jake exclaims, landing on Lady Rainicorn with Beemo in his arm. As Lady Rainicorn flies away, the cave in the mountain above them suddenly lets out a fire cloud, and a loud BOOM, "That was awesome, Beemo. Where'd you learn to do that?"

"I have my secrets." Beemo answers.

"Whatever, it's cool." Jake says, "Either way crisis averted. Right, babe?"

"옳았습니다. 이제 가서 아이스크림." Lady Rainicorn says, grinning.

"Yeah! I like that idea! What do you think Beemo?" Jake asks.

"I like it too! Let's go!" he says.

"WOOHOO! YEAAAHHH!" Jake cries out as the winds ripple in his ears.

"The sun's already setting..." Marceline comments to herself. Princess Bubblegum's chambers are in sight, and the preperations are made. "I hope this works..." She reaches the Princess' window pane and hovers in front of the closed shutters. The sun sets, and Marceline drops her hat and gloves.

(Random deizens of the Candy Kingdom find them, wordering where they came from, not thinking to look up.)

'If she keeps her old schedule, she should be coming back from her lab soon.' Marceline thinks.

As if on cue, she hears the Princess' door open and close again. After waiting for a second, Marceline knocks on the shutter. A moment later, the shutter swings open. Princess Bubblegum stares, and Marceline smiles awkwardly.

"Uhh. Hi, Bonnibel." Marceline says.

"Marceline." Princess Bubblegum replies a little coldly. Marceline flinches on the inside; the tone hurts. She swallows hard, knowing what she has to do next.

"Th-that hurt." Marceline says.

"What...?" Bonnibel asks.

"It hurts me, Bonnibel. That you talk that way to me now." Marceline answers.

"I-I'm sorry?"

"No, I'm sorry. I don't know what I did, but, I..." Marceline pauses, then says, "I... I have a place ready. Wanna go talk about this with me?"

"I... yeah, sure." Bonnibel replies, still getting over the shock of hearing Marceline admit that something hurt her.

"Would you mind standing on the windowsill for a second?" Marceline asks, "I... can't come in to get you, I was never invited..."

"Oh! Oh, sure, yeah." Bonnibel stumbles over her words some and steps onto the windowsill where she is lifted by Marceline in the same manner as Finn was carried earlier today. They travel a little before Princess Bubblegum speaks. "Marceline... did you ever read any of the old comic books dated before the Great Mushroom War?"

"I was ALIVE before the Great Mushroom War." she realizes that might not be the answer that Bonnibel was looking for, and so she tries again, "So, yeah. Why?"

"Some of them speak of regular people being carried in the arms of great flying heroes like this after a rescue. I imagine this is what it feels like..." Bonnibel says, slowly lifting her gaze to Marceline's. They stare for what seems like a long while before they both drop their expressions to surprise, blush, and look away.

"OH! Look, Bonnibel! Here's our stop!" Marceline lands gracefully in the clearing and places Bonnibel on the ground, gently.

The scene was lit by candles.

"A spagetti dinner?" Bonnibel asks, "Isn't this where I gave you your bear back? Did someone tell you I like spagetti?"

"Yeah, to all three... but that's not important. Here, sit. We... have a lot to talk about." Marceline says.

"Yes. We do. Where should we start?" Princess Bubblegum sits on the log with a level of elegance befitting what she is.

"Well, how about at what happened. I think there was a miscommunication." Marceline begins, taking a seat herself, "You said I didn't have to be perfect. Until then, I thought I did. I still do."

"No, Marceline. There wasn't a miscommunication. There was an utter lack of it. You ARE perfect, the way you are. That's why I wanted to stay your friend. You were so cool to me, you still are." Marceline blushes at hearing this, "But you seperated from me so suddenly, I was saddened and confused, and so... that resulted in my coldness towards you. When did you start thinking you needed to be any different than how you are?"

"It was probably when the fact that you are a Princess started taking up more of your time, and I was pushed out of your schedule so much more. So I removed myself as it seemed I was only becoming... well... an inconvenience. I watched the things you were doing instead, especially all the suitors that had been balling you."

"Huh?" Bonnibel is suddenly confused.

"Eyeballing you," Marceline corrects herself, "LSP influence."

"Oh. But, the suitors...?" Bonnibel inquires. Marceline gapes at Bonnibel, at a complete loss of how to repond.

"NO, UHH, I MEAN THE UHH..."

'She doesn't like it when you lie to her.' she recalls Finn telling her.

"... Yes." she admits.

"Marceline... Why would you care about that...?" Bonnibel inquires further.

"B-because... I... Bonnibel, I really... that is, I... uuuuuugggggh..." Marceline tries her hardest to get the words out, but it just doesn't work, "Uhh. Hold on, I'm not used to this. Just... I'll get it, just wait a minute. I... I..."

"Marceline." Bonnibel intercedes gently, the corners of her lips being tugged upwards, "I... I think I get what you're trying to say."

"No no... I mean, it makes sense that you would, but I should say it. I need to say it. At least then I can be rejected with some dignity intact..." Marceline's sentence comes out strained, her eyes shut tight as she continues to try to get the right words out.

"Who says I'm going to reject you, Marcey?" Bonnibel's question almost comes out as a purr.

"I know you are! I'm a vampire, and you're the Princess of the Candy Kingdom! There's no way around it! I can't just... wait..." Marceline stops and meets Bonnibel's gaze, "Did you just call me Marcey...?" Her eyes widen and her jaw falls at Bonnibel's candlelit face at that moment, admiring every inch of it, her shy smile, her dark eyes, which now sparkle like nothing Marceline and all her one thousand years could put her finger on, the light blush on her face which accented her cheekbones just perfectly, the way her bubblegum hair fell across her bubblegum face just so. And then she giggles, and Marceline temporarily loses herself to it.

"Marceline..." Bonnibel says, "You are my problem." Marceline's heart sinks for a split second, but Bonnibel continues, "You became my problem when you stopped being my friend. I miss you, Marcey. I would do anything to have you back. I really like you."

"Y-you... that's like... LIKE like, right? Because that's what I was going to say, so if it's not what you mean, then that's not the same and that just means that I-" Marceline's nervous babbling is put to a swift halt by Bonnibel's lips against hers. Marceline kisses back, and shortly, Bonnibel pulls back slightly with a smirk.

"Does that answer your question?" she asks.

"Heh... yeah it kinda does." Marceline glances away and happens to notice, "The spagetti's gone?"

"What can I say? I like spagetti." Bonnibel comments.

"Yeah, I guess so, huh." Marceline says, shocked.

"Not as much as I like how you taste though, Marcey~" Bonnibel tells Marceline.

Marceline turns back to Bonnibel, grins like her usual sly self, and returns to their previous activity...

"Okay, so, this is where I live. But don't touch it, okay? It'll burn really fast." Finn tells the Flame Princess, standing with her outside the treehouse.

"Oh! Okay." She confirms, "Who are they?" she gestures to Beemo, Jake, and Lady Rainicorn sitting outside eating ice cream.

"Hey! Cool! They're friends of mine, I can introduce you to these guys! They'll burn too, though, so be careful." Finn tells Flame Princess.

"Ah! Got it." she confirms again.

"Hey, guys! C'mon, Flame Princess!" Finn gently pulls her along, and she can't help but blush over the contact.

"The little guy is Beemo. He's a video game. The slightly bigger one is Jake, he's my best friend. The really big one is Lady Rainicorn. She's Jake's girlfriend, and friend of Princess Bubblegum."  
Finn introduces them and they all say "Hey" to her at once.

"Hi. I'm the Flame Princess... I'm uhm... Finn's..." she looks back to Finn nervously, "girlfriend...?"

"O-oh! I, uh... I guess we never did really clear that up for sure. Well, yeah, I'd say so. I mean, if you wanna be, yeah." Finn stammers, blushing.

"Then... yes." she turns back to Finn's buds, "I'm Finn's girlfriend."

"Hey, that's great, way to go guys! I'm happy for you two!" Jake exclaims.

"Thanks. That means a lot, Jake." Finn says. Then a thought suddenly occurs to him, "I wonder if Marceline managed to work things out with Princess Bubblegum?"

Needless to say, many things were worked out between Marceline and Princess Bubblegum that night.

Marcey got a little sugar, if you know what I mean.

Korean translations:

1.) I'm glad I was able to meet another one of your friends, sweetheart.

2.) I'm glad I could meet you too. I hope I make a good friend. ^_^

3.) Right. Now let's go get some ice cream.

I used Google Translate, so feel free to correct me.


End file.
